A food product has many ingredients. Each ingredient has a specific function and contribution to the overall acceptance of the consumable food product. Ideally, the food or beverage product prepared from the ingredients should have an acceptable appearance, texture, flavor and aroma. To achieve the desired food or beverage product, it is important that the ingredients be stable and that their function not be lost during normal storage and distribution. To achieve shelf stability the ingredients must be both chemically and microbially stable at ambient temperatures.
Shelf-stable packaged pre-mixes for preparing food and beverage compositions are quite common. However, most shelf stable packaged pre-mixes are incomplete and require the addition of certain ingredients (e.g., eggs, shortening, water or milk) to be supplied and added by the preparer. This is because if the ingredients were incorporated into the packaged pre-mixes, they would be subject to chemical reactions and microbial proliferation. Typically the preparer (e.g., a foodservice operator or a consumer), measures a quantity of the ingredients provided in the prepared pre-mix and then supplies and adds any additional ingredients necessary to form a uncooked mix (i.e., complete with all ingredients but requires cooking, e.g., by baking, frying, microwaving, etc.) or a quality and reproducibility, depends on the accuracy of measurement and equipment used by the individual preparer.
Several problems exist with many packaged pre-mixes. Inaccuracies in the steps performed by the preparer such as measuring ingredients or using different units of measure (e.g., different size eggs, teaspoons, etc.) may cause ingredients to be either too low or too high in concentration in the resulting uncooked mixes or food and beverage products. This could cause undesirable product properties, for example dryness, toughness, condensed texture, increase/decrease in viscosity. Moreover, inadequate mixing (i.e., overmixing, undermixing) may also result in RTC mixes or food and beverage products having non-homogeneous, mixture overworked ingredients e.g. gluten.
Another problem with packaged pre-mixes is how ingredients are combined. The combination of ingredients have been limited primarily by the formulator's ability to stabilize the components microbially, without the use of heat treatments (e.g., sterilization, pasteurization). Actions taken to achieve microbial stability (e.g., adding of anti-microbials, pH adjustors or reducing the a.sub.w) in food compositions, especially high moisture compositions, are not always successful. This is because ingredients in the food composition may interact with the anti-microbials, be unstable at various pHs and/or need different a.sub.w s to prevent the growth of various pathogens.
Many formulators, because of concerns regarding microbial stability, do not place ingredients in their most functional component or environment. For example, many known pre-mixes include dried egg whites or whole eggs in the dry component; this reduces the ability of the egg protein to hydrate properly because it must compete with other ingredients for the available water. This, in many cases is not desirable, particularly in those instances where the product depends on the egg for obtaining a certain structure or thickness. When the ingredients in the components are not in their most functional environment or are chemically unstable the resulting uncooked mix lacks the physical properties (e.g., viscosity, homogeneity, emulsification) necessary to prepare a high quality uncooked mix, and the resulting food product suffers in quality (e.g., taste, texture, appearance).
One attempt to stabilize the pre-mix microbially and reduce measuring inaccuracy is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,409,720 (Kent et al.), issued Apr. 25, 1996. Kent et al. discloses a dough mix that includes both a moist ingredient portion and a dry ingredient portion. The moist ingredient portion includes sugar, shortening, preferably egg solids, flavorings and all the water necessary to form a complete dough. The dry ingredient portion includes all the flour required in the complete dough. The dry ingredient portion can also include leavening agents, egg solids, candy pieces, nuts, dried fruits, coconut, and other "dry" or moisture-free ingredients. The moist and dry ingredients, when combined, produce a complete dough requiring no additional ingredients.
A problem with combining the "moist" with the "dry" ingredients according to Kent et al. is that it will be difficult to ensure that all of the ingredients are thoroughly mixed so as to be dissolved, fully hydrated and dispersed for complete functionality. Moreover, while this method may provide microbial stability in some intermediate water activity doughs and pre-mixes, Kent et al.'s method would not be suitable for preparing high water activity pre-mixes, uncooked mixes or high water activity food and beverage products. The doughs of Kent et al. makes use of an intermediate a.sub.w moist portion (i.e., no greater than 0.85) to ensure microbial stability. High water activity (i.e., greater than 0.85) uncooked mixes (e.g., cakes, muffins, brownies, pancakes) or food and beverage products (e.g., salad dressings, soups, sauces, shakes, milk/juice blends) require increased levels of water. Most high water activity uncooked mixes and food and beverage products are fluid or flowable. Therefore, a high water liquid component would be needed in formulating a complete pre-mix. The high water activity liquid components would not be microbially stabilized by the method of Kent et al.
Accordingly, a need exists for shelf stable complete pre-mixes for preparing high moisture mixes and high moisture food and beverage products that would allow all of the ingredients, including water, to be present. There also exits a need for complete pre-mixes that allows ingredients to be highly functional for their intended purpose yet remain chemically and microbially stable, prior to being combined. A further need exists for a simple method of mixing the ingredients of food and beverage compositions that would minimize variabilities caused by mixing conditions.
An object of the invention is to provide shelf-stable complete pre-mixes.
Another object of the invention is to stabilize (i.e., microbially, chemically) complete pre-mixes comprising a high-water activity component.
Still another object of the invention is to stabilize the components of complete pre-mixes while substantially enhancing the performance of food ingredients.